Sunday, July 20, 2014

The Jeff Recommends: Primary

So, after giving you a grab bag of facts about the way we do things here in Washington State, let me open my ballot and get down to brass tacks.

And, let's see. Nothing for the Executive. Our State Senator has two more years before running. State Legislator Position Two has two candidates, so both of them are going forward. State Legislator Position One has only ONE candidate, so congratulations on your re-election, Zack Hudgins. No judges. No primary positions for Kent, which is probably just as well, since I now have to do a criminal background check for local elections, apparently. No referendums or initiatives.

To be frank, it is pretty empty in this neck of the woods, with the notable exception of US House of Representatives for the 9th District, which will probably be incumbent Adam Smith versus the guy who will lose to Adam Smith.

That's because Adam Smith (no, not the guy who wrote about the Invisible Hand) is a very strong candidate. Even though they shook up his district like a mix-master before the last one, he is a capable incumbent with a lot of experience and heavy governmental chops. Mark Greene of the Citizens Party makes the case that the two major parties are more aligned than different. Looking at the Online Voting Guide (which I always use as as a good place to start, I have a hard time arguing with him), he's got a point. Smith talks about jobs, economy, and veterans (he's if favor all three) , which Republican candidate Doug Basler talks about the economy, jobs, and veterans (he is also in favor of all three). The other listed Democrat, Don Rivers, also name-checks the economy, jobs, and veterans, along with prison reform, education, environment and infrastructure (long list, no paragraph breaks, and yes, he's in favor of all of them). Mr Greene's notes aside, Mr. Rivers actually looks pretty good, and if you don't want Mr. Smith, I would strongly recommend Mr. Rivers as "the other Democrat". For myself, I will stay with Adam Smith.

So yeah, Adam Smith. Yep, that's it. And yeah, it feels weird not having much more to talk about. Oh! Yeah, for your own races, check the Online Voting Guide for an introduction to the candidates. The Municipal League of King County gives candidate evaluations, which while not being all-consuming, also gives a good starting point. The Seattle Times goes through the motions of weighing the options before choosing the candidate that hates unions the most. The Stranger remains rude, lewd, and generally accurate in their calls. And political gadfly David "Goldy" Goldstein pretty much sums things up for this political season.

Oh, since we don't have enough of this in the coming months, have an honest political ad -

And we're done here, at least until the November election churns around.